"Finally, I suspect that it is by entering that deep place inside us where our secrets are kept that we come perhaps closer than we do anywhere else to the One who, whether we realize it or not, is of all our secrets the most telling and the most precious we have to tell." Frederick Buechner

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"If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a Hope-er, a Pray-er, a Magic Bean buyer; if you're a pretender, come sit by my fire. For we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!" -- Shel Silverstein

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Pussy Riot

I'll admit it. The first time I saw the headlines about "Pussy Riot" - the Russian punk rock women's group that was recently sentenced to two years in prison camp for their very brief protest of Putin's government at Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow - I thought, "Hmm, I wonder how 'pussy' translates in Russian and if they mean what I think it means".

So, I checked iGoogle Translate. Here's what I found:

noun

киска

pussy, puss, kitty, pussycat, moggy, mog

пизда

cunt, pussy, quim, fanny, sissy, vagina

кошечка

pussycat, pussy, catling, puss, fox

котик

pussy

девушка

girl, lady, maiden, maid, lass, pussy

сережка на вербе

pussy

манда

cunt, fanny, pussy, quim, sissy, vagina

женские половые `органы

vagina, fanny, pussy, quim

However, when I typed in the words "Pussy Riot", what I got was "Pussy Riot".

I'm thinking I'm not the only one who is curious about the name of this group. I'll bet they 'cleaned up' the translation in the past week.

Something in me giggled wickedly as I typed in, "Vagina! Vagina! Vagina!" on my laptop just to see if the Google police would censure me.

They didn't. That only happens in the Michigan Senate.

So, other than the interesting - if not just a tad vulgar - headlines, what's the story behind the "Pussy Riot" in Russia and what ever does that have to do with the price of caviar?

Turns out, a lot.

Three members of the punk rock band, Pussy Riot - Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, ages 22-30 - were
arrested in March for an extremely brief performance in Moscow’s main
cathedral that featured an anti-Putin song.

Pussy Riot called their “punk prayer” “Mother of the Lord, Chase
Putin Out,” invoking that young Palestinian woman who desired that the mighty be
brought down, the lowly lifted up and the hungry fed.

Her story, and
that of her son, was also to end up in court. And the charge against him
was not wholly dissimilar.

Pussy Riot emphasized that the act was a political protest against Patriarch Lukashenko (the representative of the Orthodox church's hierarchy) campaigning for Putin in the Presidential race.

However, the official charges were “hooliganism driven by religious hatred”. The judge
bluntly denied that there was any political inspiration, and ruled
instead that religious hatred was the motive of Pussy Riot’s
performance.

Each of the three women, two of whom have children, were sentenced to two years of hard labor in prison where, Nikolai Polozov, their lawyer says, “We have a serious basis to think they can be faced with physical harm, moral pressure and even violence.”

In the closing section of the verdict, Judge Marina Syrova read
“psychiatric-psychological examinations” of Nadia, Masha, and Katya, as
the women are known. All three were found to suffer from a
“mixed-personality disorder,” a condition that included different
combinations of a “proactive approach to life,” “a drive for
self-fulfillment,” “stubbornly defending their opinion,” “inflated
self-esteem,” “inclination to opposition behavior,” and “propensity for
protest reactions.”

Oh, no! Women with an 'inflated self-esteem', a 'drive for self-fulfillment', and a 'proactive approach to life'? That's quite a "mixed-personality disorder". We can't have that! Women are supposed to be humble and subservient. You know, they should know their "place" - and stay in it. In silence.

What's fascinating to me is that Pussy Riot’s feminism and expressions of frustration at
the political stasis in Russia (aided, in their view, by the Orthodox
Church), was branded by the Church—and the supposed victims who were
injured by the performance—as deviant acts that offended their feelings
and violated their religious rights.

Hmmm....Christians claiming that they are "offended" and that their "rights have been violated" by women who are protesting that their rights have been compromised. The "church" acting as an agent of the state for its own benefit and political expediency?

“Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of
Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the
unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be
infringed,” said the draft platform language approved Tuesday, which was
first reported by CNN. “We support a human life amendment to the
Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth
Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”

This, of course, makes it very awkward for the Romney-Ryan ticket. They've spent most of this week trying to distance themselves from Todd Aiken, the Missouri Republican who hopes to get elected to Congress.

Aiken claims that a woman can't get pregnant if the rape is "forcible" because something happens in a woman's body that "shuts everything down".

Mitt Romney has denounced Mr. Akin’s comments about
rape and abortion and has said that he supports exceptions to allow
abortions in cases of rape.

His running
mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, was already drawing scrutiny for his support for a more absolute ban on abortions, even in cases of rape or incest.

The Republican Party Platform is fueled, of course, by the socially conservative, Evangelical Right and their ideological counterparts, the Tea Party.

Need I point out that Romney is a committed Mormon and Ryan is a "devout" Roman Catholic? Well, as devout as one can be when one claims to have been influenced ideologically by atheist, Ayn Rand.

No, I need not point out the religious affiliations of either candidate because they are only too happy to tell us every chance they get. (Which gives others the chance to whisper that the President of the United States is a Muslim - when they're not tittering that he's a godless Socialist, who, of course, was born in Kenya.)

But really, folks, this campaign is about the economy and jobs. That's all. No, really. Seriously.

They'll "get back to you" on that as soon as they can get the idiots in their party to shut their mouths. Problem is, they have so many of them. Until then, "you're just going to have to trust" them on this.

Make no mistake: What happened in Russia with the women from Pussy Riot is but one verse of the same song being played in America with the planned oppression of reproductive rights for women.

It's the odd couple of politics and religion, claiming to want smaller government while they take up residence in a woman's reproductive system so they can be in control of creation.

As Mary Daly said years ago, "If God is male, then male is god".

If He - (ahem, God) - created the universe, then men should have control over creation. And, procreation. It really is as simple - and as dangerous - as that.

The women of Pussy Riot were determined to suffer from an "inflated self-esteem". Women who are raped are only saying they were because they want an abortion. See? "Everybody" knows that if it's "legitimate rape", they would never get pregnant.

Talk about your "proactive approach to life"!

The intriguing part of this Pussy Riot story for me is the shift in the role of the church in Russia. It has moved from 'ecclesia non grata'
during the Soviet era to its current role, under KGB-connected
Patriarch Kirill I, as Putin’s unofficial bulldog, defending the faith
and the state from dangerous dissent.

Ironies abound.

Except, of course, when things are politically expedient. Then, they make perfect sense.

I think iGoogle has it right to translate English to Russian "Pussy Riot" to "Pussy Riot". It's the same whether it's in English or Russian. Nothing is lost in translation.

Indeed, I think we need a bit of a pussy riot in this country. Time for women - and the men who love us - to speak up for democracy and speak out against theocracy.

Pussy Riot is still making music from the Gulag. A recording of their new song, "Putin Lights Up the Fires" has just been released. They sing: Putin is lighting the fires of revolution / He's bored and scared of sharing silence with the people / With every execution: the stench of rotten ash / With every long sentence: a wet dream".
You don't have to be a member of a punk-rock band to make your voice
heard and known - in the church or the State. You, too, can be guilty of a “proactive approach to life,” an "inflated self-esteem," and “a drive for
self-fulfillment."

One of the most politically radical prayers we have in the Prayer Book is "The Song of Mary". Next time you pray or sing the "Magnificat" in church, remember the members of the Pussy Riot and say a special prayer for them. Remember also those women who are pregnant due to rape or incest - or any woman who is pregnant and doesn't want to be - and pray for them, too.

One of the sweetest songs in this country is our ability to vote. It's the way we make our voices known and heard. Which is why women were the last to attain the right to vote in this country.

I seem to remember that, when women fought for the right to vote in
this country, they, too, were determined to have psychiatric disorders
and were imprisoned. When Suffragist Alice Paul went on a hunger strike in prison, she was moved to the prison’s psychiatric ward and force-fed raw eggs through a feeding tube.

And pray for the women (and men) in Ohio, Pennsylvania and parts of Florida who won't be able to vote because of voter suppression laws passed by Republican legislators. Funny how the press corpse (not a typo) manages mostly to ignore this story.

When I put the full text of their protest song through googletranslate, and selected automatic language selection --their language came up Serbian, not Russian... which may lay a whole other canvas on top of the oppression they are protesting.

Regarding the Republican platform, I also draw your attention to the fact that, not only are there no exceptions for rape or incest, there is none for the life of the mother. Paul Ryan was one of the congresspeople who supported the "let 'em die" bill that would have outlawed all abortions -- even those needed as an emergency measure if the mother's life was at stake.

Also, VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) has not yet been reauthorized. Ryan voted against it. Our current VP wrote it.

Somebody, please, tell me AGAIN how the two parties are almost the same???

The name "PUSSY RIOT" is also spelled in English in the Russian articles and logs on these occurrences. It's a name, also in Russian and spelled Latin.

PUSSY RIOT was a group of artists with political engagement to the community. The world doesn't understand it, but I do. Art. Great art, I must say. Punk revival. Feminism revival. Reformation revival.Revival.

Huge bravery in short dress while freezing -20 before the world known image of Moscow.

Protests at the front page, having their position published in the Newspapers. But it costs 2 years of hard labour in Siberia, a place where many great writers from Russia would stay.

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I am a joyful Christian who claims the fullness of the Anglican tradition of being evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, charismatic, orthodox and radical. Since 1991, my canonical residence has been the Diocese of Newark, where I was a member of the Women's Commission (since 1993), the Department of Missions (2 terms), The Commission on Ministry (1 term), The Standing Committee (4 years, one as President). I served as an elected Deputy to General Convention in 2000, 2003, and 2006. I have served as a board member of Integrity, USA, and as a founding member of Claiming The Blessing. I am national Convener of The Episcopal Women's Caucus, and am now member of the national board of RCRC. I attended the Lambeth Conference in 1998 and 2008 representing EWC. I graduated in May 2008 from Drew with my doctorate in Pastoral Care and Counseling and was Proctor Fellow at EDS, Spring Semester 2011. I am a GOE reader. I consult and counsel at Canterbury Pastoral Care Center in Harbeson, DE.

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"How can you initiate someone and then treat them like a half-assed baptized?" - The Rt Rev Barbara Harris

Those who know the deep acceptance and love that come with healing and forgiveness can lose the defensive veneer that wants to shut out other sinners. They discover that covering their hair or hiding their tears or hoarding their rich perfume isn't the way that the beloved act, even if it makes others nervous. Katharine Jefferts Schori at Southwarck Cathedral, UK June 13, 2010

"If you have never been called a defiant, incorrigible, impossible woman … have faith … there is yet time." ~ From Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

If you want to protect Holy Wedlock, by all means padlock the church door whenever guys who love Judy Garland come-a-knocking. But if you want to protect marriage push for a constitutional amendment to ban divorce.

And . . . If that wasn't outrageous enough for you, there's this:

From where I sit, the entire Republican Party should head to OZ – looking for a brain, a heart and a pair of testicles.Helen Philipot

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Thomas MertonEileen the Episcopalifem

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